In this series we’ll take a fresh look at resources and how they are used. We’ll go beyond natural resources like air and water to look at how efficiency in raw materials can boost the bottom line and help the environment. We’ll also examine the circular economy and design for reuse — with an eye toward honoring those resources we do have.

While changes at home can’t solve the many environmental crises we face today, they can sure help. Through this series, we’ll explore how initiatives like curbside compost pick-up, rebates on compost bins, and efficient appliances can help families reduce their impact without breaking the bank.

Despite decades -- centuries even -- of global efforts, slavery can still be found not just on the high seas, but around the world and throughout various supply chains. Through this series on forced labor, sponsored by C&A Foundation, we’ll explore many different types of bonded and forced labor and highlight industries where this practice is alive and well today.

In this series we examine how companies should respond to national controversy like police violence and the BLM movement to best support employees and how can companies work to improve equality by increasing diversity in their ranks directly.

Compost is often considered a panacea for the United States’ tremendous food waste problem. Indeed, composting is a much better option than putting spoiled food in a garbage can destined for a landfill.

Food & Agriculture

Venezuela’s social crisis is widening and even those with money for food struggle to find products on the shelves. With spiraling food shortages and unemployment, hospitals are feeling the pinch as well.

Cargill, the largest privately-owned food company in the U.S. and a major producer and supplier of palm oil to food processors worldwide, will sever ties with a controversial Malaysian palm oil supplier.

Florida’s Treasure Coast has become inundated with algae blooms. After resisting federal regulations that could have prevented the problem, Florida politicians are asking the White House for help. And the Obama administration was clear in its response: It is your mess, so you fix it.

On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the country’s first labeling legislation for genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). Many say the legislation doesn’t go far enough. And one food giant is out to raise the bar for the whole industry.

America’s top 25 grocery chains have all made commitments to go cage-free. And the Publix announcement could be “a final nail in the coffin” for hen confinement, said the Humane Society of the United States.

The Beer Institute, one of the leading trade associations representing the $250 billion beer industry, announced a set of nutritional labeling guidelines that it says will “promote consumer choice and transparency.”

Rainforest Action Network released an animated video on Facebook earlier this week that highlights its beef with the palm oil industry. The clear and concise video reveals unsettling details, including what the NGO calls endemic human rights abuses such as child labor.

We all know about the huge declines in bee and monarch butterfly populations. Now, it turns out thatin some areas nearly all insects are at risk of extinction. And if we don’t solve this problem soon, the repercussions could be huge.

“A bill of this importance merits hearings, expert testimony and thorough legal analysis, not the ‘backroom dealing’ that created this deeply flawed draft,” Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, said of the GMO-labeling legislation that hit the senate floor this week. “As it stands, this bill is a sham and a legislative embarrassment.”

WhiteWave, best known for its Silk brand of non-dairy beverages, Earthbound Farms salad mixes and Horizon organic milk, offers Danone an opportunity to bolster its presence in North America and emerging markets.